Universal is set to open a new theme park, and it’s epic.
Yes, I know, that was probably a terrible pun, but on May 22, Universal will officially open the doors of its newest theme park, the first major theme park in the Florida area in 25 years!
Epic Universe is the largest of all Universal properties. It sits over 750 acres and features five themed worlds, including my personal favorite, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, as well as Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Celestial Park, and Dark Universe.
What makes this particularly huge is that the opening of this park is set to generate $2 billion for Florida in just the first year of its opening.
Tourism has been a huge thing in Florida for a long time. In fact, in 2023, more than 74 million people journeyed to Orlando, which contributed around 50% of the total sales tax collected in Orange County. Isn’t that crazy? 50% of sales tax collected in Florida wasn’t even from residents!
The opening of Epic Universe is set to bring billions of dollars to the local economy and provide thousands of jobs. Universal said that about 65,000 jobs were created just to construct the Epic Universe theme park. According to Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, 17,500 new jobs are expected to open across the country in the park’s first year of opening.
Epic Universe has received a lot of positive press so far; hopefully, it will meet expectations. In my humble opinion, I’m extremely excited to visit this park whenever I have the chance (and the money).
